Dreaming of an AI Christmas? Amazon Echo sells out as gift of choice this year

December 23, 2016

Demand for Amazon’s smart speaker has been higher than expected, with the Echo device now sold out until mid-January, according to the online retailer’s website.

The voice-activated, “Alexa”-enabled smart speaker is currently lists it as out of stock until January 19th on Amazon’s US site.

Menawhile, the smaller version, Amazon Echo Dot is also out of stock until December 27th, suggesting that the artificially intelligence home assistants have proven to be be popular Christmas gifts.

An Amazon spokesperson said in a statement: “Customer response to Echo, Echo Dot, Fire TV Stick and other Amazon devices has been incredibly positive. Customers can order now to reserve their spot in line and may also be able to find these devices at Amazon bookstores, Prime Now, Amazon Pop-Up stores and other retailers.”

Sales of Amazon’s breakout smart speaker have been strong since its debut in 2014.

Back in November, the Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) reported that Amazon had sold more than 5 million of them, with 2 million of those sales coming in the first ten months of 2016.

Google recently launched a rival device, dubbed Google Home, but it is yet to go on sale in the UK.